Bellator 78 results: Good and Koreshkov advance to welterweight-tourney semifinals

http://mmajunkie.comFAIRBORN, Ohio – Lyman Good is heading to the finals of Bellator’s Season 7 welterweight tournament, but not without a bit of controversy.

Although he dominated Michail Tsarev for nearly two rounds, Good got earned the TKO stoppage just as his opponent was complaining of an accidental but illegal eye poke.

The bout headlined Friday’s Bellator 78 event at Wright State University’s Nutter Center in Fairborn, Ohio. It aired on MTV2 following prelims on Spike.com.

The first round was all Good, who scored a quick takedown and then dominated the first round from top position while occasionally raining down punches once standing.

In the second, Good checked kicks and became to chip away and bloody his tiring opponent. After a brief takedown and subsequent standup from the ref, Good clipped his opponent, though Tsarev covered his eye and signaled to the ref for a timeout. Referee Greg Franklin moved in but didn’t halt the bout, and Good unloaded a quick volley of punches that ultimately forced the TKO stoppage.

An irate Tsarev protested to cageside officials and then watched the replays to validate his complaint. But it did no good, and Good was awarded the victory at the 3:54 mark of the second round.

“That’s a testimonial to how much I’ve been working back at my gym … on all areas,” Good said of his willingness to take the submission specialist to the ground.

Good (14-2 MMA, 7-2 BFC), Bellator’s first-ever 170-pound champ, is now a victory away from earning the right to reclaim his belt. Tsarev (24-3 MMA, 1-1 BFC), snaps an 11-fight win streak, which included a win over Tim Welch in the tourney’s opening round.

Koreshkov stops Zaromskis to advance to tourney final

In the co-headliner and the night’s first tournament bout, Andrey Koreshkov quickly punched his ticket to the welterweight-tourney finals with a vicious first-round beatdown of Marius Zaromskis.

After some early exchanges from two clearly eager fights, Koreshkov connected with a quick left hook that dropped Koreshkov. Koreshkov swarmed with a flurry of left-handed punches as his opponent slumped to his side.

The punches mounted before the ref mercifully halted the action at the 2:14 mark of the opening round.

“I’m very happy I didn’t disappoint anyone, including my coach Alexander Shlemenko,” the Russian said through a translator after the win.

Daniel Straus’ decision to stay busy rather than wait on the sidelines for his promised title shot went off without a hitch; the Cincinnati native posted an impressive stoppage win over Alvin Robinson as a local crowd rooted him on.

Straus, a recent tournament winner, scored a quick double-leg takedown and looked to isolate an arm, and though he didn’t get, he dominated the first-round action from top position.

After some early exchanges, Straus again forced a quick takedown in the second. Straus looked for submissions and unloaded some ground and pound, and when Robinson briefly escaped, Straus continually rag-dolled him back to the mat. The relentlessness paid off late in the round, when Straus slammed Robinson to the mat and eventually secured a fight-ending rear-naked choke with just seconds remaining in the round.

Straus (21-4 MMA, 7-1 BFC) moves to 17-1 in his past 18 fights, and the lone loss came in a tournament final against Patricio “Pitbull” Freire. Straus, of course, fights the winner of a planned title bout between Freire and injured champ Pat Curran, who are expected to meet in early 2013.

Robinson (12-7 MMA, 0-1 BFC), meanwhile, spoils a recent 3-1 run that followed a four-fight stint in the UFC.

Rogers tops resilient Steele

In his first fight since a crushing loss to Andreas Spang in a tournament bout he otherwise dominated, Brian Rogers returned to the win column with a hard-fought victory over fellow middleweight Dominique Steele.

Rogers connected early and wobbled the fellow Ohioan, but perhaps learning from past Bellator experiences, he didn’t rush the finish. Instead, Rogers patiently circled and found his openings, including one midway through the round in which he unloaded a quick combo that split Steele’s lip.

Rogers continued with the game plan in the second round, and his patience paid off as he found a steady stream of openings to land damaging combos. However, with Steele pacing his attacks and Rogers limited with his opportunities to counter, neither put together a sustained attack.

In the third, Rogers shucked off takedown attempts, and power shots landed more frequently. A bloody and battered Steele took his best shots, but he never went down and forced the fight to the judges’ scorecards. Rogers, though, took the unanimous decision via 30-27 scores.

The decision win was a first for Rogers (10-4 MMA, 3-2 BFC), who had won his previous nine fights via first-round stoppage. Steele (6-3 MMA, 0-1 BFC), meanwhile, suffers his second straight defeat.

Champ Gurgel returns with win

In the night’s featured preliminary-card bout, Bellator 115-pound champ Zoila Gurgel returned from a 19-month injury layoff for a hard-fought unanimous-decision win over 125-pounder Casey Noland.

Despite fighting near her hometown and in front of a partisan crowd, the champ’s non-title fight didn’t make the televised lineup. However, despite a sluggish start, Gurgel finished strong and did damage in the third frame with some heavy ground and pound, including a forehead-slicing elbow late in the fight. Fortunately, her surgically repaired knee appeared to offer no problems.

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